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Isaiah 29
Easy-to-Read Version
Isaiah 29
Easy-to-Read Version
God Punishes Jerusalem
29 God says, “Look at Ariel,[a] the city where David camped. Keep on having your festivals, year after year. 2 But I will punish Ariel. The city will be filled with sadness and crying, but it will always be my Ariel.
3 “I will put armies all around you, Ariel. I will raise war towers against you. 4 You will be pulled to the ground. Your voice will rise from the ground like the voice of a ghost. Your words come like a whisper from the dirt.”
5 There will be so many foreigners that they will be like dust. Cruel people will be like the chaff blowing in the wind. Then suddenly, 6 the Lord All-Powerful will punish you with earthquakes, thunder, and loud noises. There will be storms, strong winds, and a burning, destructive fire. 7 Many nations will fight against Ariel. It will be a nightmare. Armies will surround Ariel and punish her. 8 But it will also be like a dream to those armies. They will not get what they want. It will be like a hungry man dreaming about food. When the man wakes up, he is still hungry. It will be like a thirsty man dreaming about water. When the man wakes up, he is still thirsty. The same thing is true about all the nations fighting against Zion. Those nations will not get what they want.
9 Be surprised and amazed!
You will become drunk, but not from wine.
Look and be amazed!
You will stumble and fall, but not from beer.
10 The Lord will make you sleepy.
He will close your eyes. (The prophets are your eyes.)
He will cover your heads. (The prophets are your heads.)
11 To you my words are like the words in a book that is closed and sealed.[b] You can give the book to someone who can read and tell that person to read it. But that person will say, “I cannot read the book. It is closed and I cannot open it.” 12 Or you can give the book to someone who cannot read and tell that person to read it. That person will say, “I cannot read the book because I don’t know how to read.”
13 The Lord says, “These people come to honor me with words, but I am not really important to them. The worship they give me is nothing but human rules they have memorized. 14 So I will continue to amaze them by doing powerful and amazing things. Their wise men will lose their wisdom. Even the most intelligent among them will not be able to understand.”
15 Look at them! They try to hide things from the Lord. They think he will not understand. They do their evil things in darkness. They tell themselves: “No one can see us. No one will know who we are.”
16 You turn things upside down. You think the clay is equal to the potter. You think that something that is made can tell the one who made it, “You did not make me!” This is like a pot telling its maker, “You know nothing.”
A Better Time Is Coming
17 This is the truth: After a very short time, Lebanon will become rich farmland, and the farmland will be like thick forests. 18 The deaf will hear the words in the book. The blind will see through the darkness and fog. 19 The Lord will make poor people happy. The poorest people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 This will happen when the people who are mean and cruel have come to an end. It will happen when those who enjoy doing bad things are gone. 21 (They lie about good people. They try to trap people in court. They try to destroy innocent people.)
22 So the Lord, who made Abraham free, speaks to Jacob’s family. He says, “Now the people of Jacob will not be embarrassed and ashamed.
23 Yes, when they see all their children,
the children I myself have made for them,
they will honor[c] my name as holy.
They will respect the God of Israel.
24 Many of these people did not understand, so they did what was wrong. They complained, but now they will learn their lesson.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 29:1 Ariel A name for the altar at the Temple in Jerusalem. This name means “hearth” or “fireplace” but sounds like the word meaning “Lion of God.” Also in verse 7.
- Isaiah 29:11 sealed A piece of clay or wax was put on the closed book to show that the book should not be opened.
- Isaiah 29:23 honor Or “treat as holy.”
以賽亞書 29
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Traditional)
以賽亞書 29
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Traditional)
耶路撒冷被圍
29 耶和華說：「亞利伊勒[a]，亞利伊勒，
大衛安營的城啊！
你有禍了！
儘管你年復一年地守節期，
2 我還是要叫你受苦。
你必悲傷哀號，
在我面前成為一座祭壇。
3 我必把你團團圍住，
屯兵圍困你，
修築高臺攻打你。
4 你必一敗塗地，
躺在塵土中說話，
你細微的聲音從土中傳來，
好像地下幽靈的聲音。
你耳語般的低聲從土中傳來。
5 但你的眾仇敵必像纖細的塵埃一樣消散，
眾多的殘暴之徒必如被風颳去的糠秕。
突然，刹那之間，
6 萬軍之耶和華必帶著雷轟、地震、巨響、旋風、暴風和烈火來臨。
7 攻打、圍困耶路撒冷及其堡壘的各國軍隊必如夢幻，
如夜間的異象一樣消失。
8 他們好像饑餓的人夢中吃飯，
醒來仍然饑餓；
像口渴的人夢中喝水，
醒來仍然渴得發昏。
攻打錫安山的各國軍隊結局都必如此。」
9 你們駐足驚奇吧！
你們自我蒙蔽，繼續瞎眼吧！
你們醉了，但不是因為酒；
你們東倒西歪，但不是因為烈酒。
10 因為耶和華把沉睡的靈傾倒在你們身上，
祂封住你們的眼睛，
蓋住你們的頭。
你們的眼睛就是先知，
你們的頭就是先見。
11 對你們而言，所有的啟示都好像封了印的書卷。你們把書卷交給識字的人讀，他會說：「我不能讀，這書卷是封著的。」 12 你們把書卷交給不識字的人讀，他會說：「我不識字。」
13 主說：「這些人嘴上親近我，
尊崇我，心卻遠離我。
他們敬拜我不過是遵行人定的規條。
14 所以，我要再次行奇妙無比的事，使他們震驚。
他們智者的智慧必泯滅，
明哲的聰明必消失。」
15 那些向耶和華深藏計謀的人有禍了！
他們暗中行事，
自以為無人看見也無人知道。
16 他們太愚蠢了！
窯匠怎能跟泥土相提並論？
被造的怎能對造它的說：
「你沒有造我」？
陶器怎能對陶匠說：
「你什麼也不懂」？
17 再過不久，黎巴嫩將變成沃野，
沃野上莊稼茂密如林。
18 那時，聾子必聽見那書卷上的話，
黑暗中的瞎子必能看見。
19 卑微的人必因耶和華而歡喜，
貧窮的人必因以色列的聖者而快樂。
20 殘暴之徒必消失，
嘲諷者必絕跡，
所有心懷不軌者必被剷除。
21 他們誣陷人，
暗算審判官，
冤枉無辜。
22 因此，關於雅各家，
救贖亞伯拉罕的耶和華說：
「雅各的子孫必不再羞愧，
臉上再無懼色。
23 因為他們看見我賜給他們的子孫時，
必尊我的名為聖，
必尊雅各的聖者為聖，
必敬畏以色列的上帝。
24 心裡迷惘的必明白真理，
發怨言的必欣然受教。」
Footnotes
- 29·1 「亞利伊勒」在此處用來指錫安/耶路撒冷，2節、7節同。
Isaiah 29
New International Version
Isaiah 29
New International Version
Woe to David’s City
29 Woe(A) to you, Ariel, Ariel,(B)
the city(C) where David settled!
Add year to year
and let your cycle of festivals(D) go on.
2 Yet I will besiege Ariel;(E)
she will mourn and lament,(F)
she will be to me like an altar hearth.[a](G)
3 I will encamp against you on all sides;
I will encircle(H) you with towers
and set up my siege works(I) against you.
4 Brought low, you will speak from the ground;
your speech will mumble(J) out of the dust.(K)
Your voice will come ghostlike(L) from the earth;
out of the dust your speech will whisper.(M)
5 But your many enemies will become like fine dust,(N)
the ruthless(O) hordes like blown chaff.(P)
Suddenly,(Q) in an instant,
6 the Lord Almighty will come(R)
with thunder(S) and earthquake(T) and great noise,
with windstorm and tempest(U) and flames of a devouring fire.(V)
7 Then the hordes of all the nations(W) that fight against Ariel,(X)
that attack her and her fortress and besiege her,
will be as it is with a dream,(Y)
with a vision in the night—
8 as when a hungry person dreams of eating,
but awakens(Z) hungry still;
as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking,
but awakens faint and thirsty still.(AA)
So will it be with the hordes of all the nations
that fight against Mount Zion.(AB)
9 Be stunned and amazed,(AC)
blind yourselves and be sightless;(AD)
be drunk,(AE) but not from wine,(AF)
stagger,(AG) but not from beer.
10 The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep:(AH)
He has sealed your eyes(AI) (the prophets);(AJ)
he has covered your heads (the seers).(AK)
11 For you this whole vision(AL) is nothing but words sealed(AM) in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.” 12 Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”
13 The Lord says:
“These people(AN) come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,(AO)
but their hearts are far from me.(AP)
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught.[b](AQ)
14 Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;(AR)
the wisdom of the wise(AS) will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.(AT)”
15 Woe to those who go to great depths
to hide(AU) their plans from the Lord,
who do their work in darkness and think,
“Who sees us?(AV) Who will know?”(AW)
16 You turn things upside down,
as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!(AX)
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed(AY) it,
“You did not make me”?
Can the pot say to the potter,(AZ)
“You know nothing”?(BA)
17 In a very short time,(BB) will not Lebanon(BC) be turned into a fertile field(BD)
and the fertile field seem like a forest?(BE)
18 In that day(BF) the deaf(BG) will hear the words of the scroll,
and out of gloom and darkness(BH)
the eyes of the blind will see.(BI)
19 Once more the humble(BJ) will rejoice in the Lord;
the needy(BK) will rejoice in the Holy One(BL) of Israel.
20 The ruthless(BM) will vanish,(BN)
the mockers(BO) will disappear,
and all who have an eye for evil(BP) will be cut down—
21 those who with a word make someone out to be guilty,
who ensnare the defender in court(BQ)
and with false testimony(BR) deprive the innocent of justice.(BS)
22 Therefore this is what the Lord, who redeemed(BT) Abraham,(BU) says to the descendants of Jacob:
“No longer will Jacob be ashamed;(BV)
no longer will their faces grow pale.(BW)
23 When they see among them their children,(BX)
the work of my hands,(BY)
they will keep my name holy;(BZ)
they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One(CA) of Jacob,
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 Those who are wayward(CB) in spirit will gain understanding;(CC)
those who complain will accept instruction.”(CD)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 29:2 The Hebrew for altar hearth sounds like the Hebrew for Ariel.
- Isaiah 29:13 Hebrew; Septuagint They worship me in vain; / their teachings are merely human rules
Isaiah 29
New English Translation
Isaiah 29
New English Translation
Ariel is Besieged
29 Ariel is as good as dead[a]—
Ariel, the town David besieged![b]
Keep observing your annual rituals;
celebrate your festivals on schedule.[c]
2 I will threaten Ariel,
and she will mourn intensely
and become like an altar hearth[d] before me.
3 I will lay siege to you on all sides;[e]
I will besiege you with troops;[f]
I will raise siege works against you.
4 You will fall;
while lying on the ground[g] you will speak;
from the dust where you lie, your words will be heard.[h]
Your voice will sound like a spirit speaking from the underworld;[i]
from the dust you will chirp as if muttering an incantation.[j]
5 But the horde of invaders will be like fine dust,
the horde of tyrants[k] like chaff that is blown away.
It will happen suddenly, in a flash.
6 Judgment will come from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,[l]
accompanied by thunder, earthquake, and a loud noise,
by a strong gale, a windstorm, and a consuming flame of fire.
7 It will be like a dream, a night vision.
There will be a horde from all the nations that fight against Ariel,
those who attack her and her stronghold and besiege her.
8 It will be like a hungry man dreaming that he is eating,
only to awaken and find that his stomach is empty.[m]
It will be like a thirsty man dreaming that he is drinking,
only to awaken and find that he is still weak and his thirst unquenched.[n]
So it will be for the horde from all the nations
that fight against Mount Zion.
God’s People Are Spiritually Insensitive
9 You will be shocked and amazed![o]
You are totally blind![p]
They are drunk, but not because of wine;
they stagger,[q] but not because of beer.
10 For the Lord has poured out on you
a strong urge to sleep deeply.[r]
He has shut your eyes (you prophets),
and covered your heads (you seers).
11 To you this entire prophetic revelation[s] is like words in a sealed scroll. When they hand it to one who can read[t] and say, “Read this,” he responds, “I can’t, because it is sealed.” 12 Or when they hand the scroll to one who can’t read[u] and say, “Read this,” he says, “I can’t read.”[v]
13 The Lord[w] says,
“These people say they are loyal to me;[x]
they say wonderful things about me,[y]
but they are not really loyal to me.[z]
Their worship consists of
nothing but man-made ritual.[aa]
14 Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people—
an absolutely extraordinary deed.[ab]
Wise men will have nothing to say,
the sages will have no explanations.”[ac]
15 Those who try to hide their plans from the Lord are as good as dead,[ad]
who do their work in secret and boast,[ae]
“Who sees us? Who knows what we’re doing?”[af]
16 Your thinking is perverse![ag]
Should the potter be regarded as clay?[ah]
Should the thing made say[ai] about its maker, “He didn’t make me”?
Or should the pottery say about the potter, “He doesn’t understand”?
Changes Are Coming
17 In just a very short time[aj]
Lebanon will turn into an orchard,
and the orchard will be considered a forest.[ak]
18 At that time[al] the deaf will be able to hear words read from a scroll,
and the eyes of the blind will be able to see through deep darkness.[am]
19 The downtrodden will again rejoice in the Lord;
the poor among humankind will take delight[an] in the Holy One of Israel.[ao]
20 For tyrants will disappear,
those who taunt will vanish,
and all those who love to do wrong will be eliminated[ap]—
21 those who bear false testimony against a person,[aq]
who entrap the one who arbitrates at the city gate[ar]
and deprive the innocent of justice by making false charges.[as]
22 So this is what the Lord, the one who delivered Abraham, has said to the family of Jacob:[at]
“Jacob will no longer be ashamed;
their faces will no longer show their embarrassment.[au]
23 For when they see their children,
whom I will produce among them,[av]
they will honor[aw] my name.
They will honor the Holy One of Jacob;[ax]
they will respect[ay] the God of Israel.
24 Those who stray morally will gain understanding;[az]
those who complain will acquire insight.[ba]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 29:1 tn Heb “Woe [to] Ariel.” The meaning of the name “Ariel” is uncertain. The name may mean “altar hearth” (see v. 2) or, if compound, “lion of God.” The name is used here as a title for Mount Zion/Jerusalem (see vv. 7-8).
- Isaiah 29:1 tn Heb “the town where David camped.” The verb חָנָה (khanah, “camp”) probably has the nuance “lay siege to” here. See v. 3. Another option is to take the verb in the sense of “lived, settled.”
- Isaiah 29:1 tn Heb “Add year to year; let your festivals occur in cycles.” This is probably a sarcastic exhortation to the people to keep up their religious rituals, which will not prevent the coming judgment. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:527.
- Isaiah 29:2 tn The term אֲרִיאֵל (ʾariʾel, “Ariel”) is the word translated “altar hearth” here. The point of the simile is not entirely clear. Perhaps the image likens Jerusalem’s coming crisis to a sacrificial fire.
- Isaiah 29:3 tc The Hebrew text has כַדּוּר (khaddur, “like a circle”), i.e., “like an encircling wall.” Some emend this phrase to כְּדָוִד (kedavid, “like David”), which is supported by the LXX (see v. 1). However, the rendering in the LXX could have arisen from a confusion of the dalet (ד) and resh (ר).
- Isaiah 29:3 tn The meaning of מֻצָּב (mutsav) is not certain. Because of the parallelism (note “siege works”), some translate “towers.” The noun is derived from נָצַב (natsav, “take one’s stand”) and may refer to the troops stationed outside the city to prevent entrance or departure.
- Isaiah 29:4 tn Heb “from the ground” (so NIV, NCV).
- Isaiah 29:4 tn Heb “and from the dust your word will be low.”
- Isaiah 29:4 tn Heb “and your voice will be like a ritual pit from the earth.” The Hebrew אוֹב (ʾov, “ritual pit”) refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits. See the note on “incantations” in 8:19. Here the word is used metonymically for the voice that emerges from such a pit.
- Isaiah 29:4 tn Heb “and from the dust your word will chirp.” The words “as if muttering an incantation” are supplied in the translation for clarification. See the parallelism and 8:19.
- Isaiah 29:5 tn Or “violent men”; cf. NASB “the ruthless ones.”
- Isaiah 29:6 tn Heb “from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies [traditionally, “the Lord of hosts”] there will be visitation.” The third feminine singular passive verb form תִּפָּקֵד (tippaqed, “she/it will be visited”) is used here in an impersonal sense. See GKC 459 §144.b.
- Isaiah 29:8 tn Or “that he [or “his appetite”] is unsatisfied.”
- Isaiah 29:8 tn Or “that he is faint and that he [or “his appetite”] longs [for water].”
- Isaiah 29:9 tn The form הִתְמַהְמְהוּ (hitmahmehu) is a Hitpalpel imperative from מָהַהּ (mahah, “hesitate”). If it is retained, one might translate “halt and be amazed.” The translation assumes an emendation to הִתַּמְּהוּ (hittammehu), a Hitpael imperative from תָּמַה (tamah, “be amazed”). In this case, the text, like Hab 1:5, combines the Hitpael and Qal imperatival forms of תָּמַה (tamah). A literal translation might be “Shock yourselves and be shocked!” The repetition of sound draws attention to the statement. The imperatives here have the force of an emphatic assertion. On this use of the imperative in Hebrew, see GKC 324 §110.c and IBHS 572 §34.4c.
- Isaiah 29:9 tn Heb “Blind yourselves and be blind!” The Hitpalpel and Qal imperatival forms of שָׁעַע (shaʿaʿ, “be blind”) are combined to draw attention to the statement. The imperatives have the force of an emphatic assertion.
- Isaiah 29:9 tc Some prefer to emend the last two verbs from their perfect form to an imperative (e.g., NAB, NCV, NRSV), since the people are addressed in the immediately preceding and following contexts.
- Isaiah 29:10 tn Heb “a disposition [or “spirit”] of deep sleep.” Through this mixed metaphor (sleep is likened to a liquid which one pours and in turn symbolizes spiritual dullness) the prophet emphasizes that God himself has given the people over to their spiritual insensitivity as a form of judgment.
- Isaiah 29:11 tn Heb “vision” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
- Isaiah 29:11 tn Heb “one who knows a/the scroll.”
- Isaiah 29:12 tn Heb “and if the scroll is handed to one who does not know a scroll.”
- Isaiah 29:12 tn Heb “I do not know a scroll.”
- Isaiah 29:13 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (ʾadonay).
- Isaiah 29:13 tn Heb “Because these people draw near to me with their mouth.”
- Isaiah 29:13 tn Heb “and with their lips they honor me.”
- Isaiah 29:13 tn Heb “but their heart is far from me.” The heart is viewed here as the seat of the will, from which genuine loyalty derives.
- Isaiah 29:13 tn Heb “their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught.”
- Isaiah 29:14 tn Heb “Therefore I will again do something amazing with these people, an amazing deed, an amazing thing.” This probably refers to the amazing transformation predicted in vv. 17-24, which will follow the purifying judgment implied in vv. 15-16.
- Isaiah 29:14 tn Heb “the wisdom of their wise ones will perish, the discernment of their discerning ones will keep hidden.”
- Isaiah 29:15 tn Heb “Woe [to] those who deeply hide counsel from the Lord.” This probably alludes to political alliances made without seeking the Lord’s guidance. See 30:1-2 and 31:1.
- Isaiah 29:15 tn Heb “and their works are in darkness, and they say.”
- Isaiah 29:15 tn The rhetorical questions suggest the answer: “No one.” They are confident that their deeds are hidden from others, including God.
- Isaiah 29:16 tn Heb “your overturning.” The predicate is suppressed in this exclamation. The idea is, “O your perversity! How great it is!” See GKC 470 §147.c. The people “overturn” all logic by thinking their authority supersedes God’s.
- Isaiah 29:16 tn The expected answer to this rhetorical question is: “Of course not.” On the interrogative use of אִם (ʾim), see BDB 50 s.v.
- Isaiah 29:16 tn Heb “that the thing made should say.”
- Isaiah 29:17 tn The Hebrew text phrases this as a rhetorical question, “Is it not yet a little, a short [time]?”
- Isaiah 29:17 sn The meaning of this verse is debated, but it seems to depict a reversal in fortunes. The mighty forest of Lebanon (symbolic of the proud and powerful; see 2:13; 10:34) will be changed into a common orchard, while the common orchard (symbolic of the oppressed and lowly) will grow into a great forest. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:538.
- Isaiah 29:18 tn Or “In that day” (KJV).
- Isaiah 29:18 tn Heb “and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.”sn Perhaps this depicts the spiritual transformation of the once spiritually insensitive nation (see vv. 10-12, cf. also 6:9-10).
- Isaiah 29:19 tn Or “will rejoice” (NIV, NCV, NLT).
- Isaiah 29:19 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
- Isaiah 29:20 tn Heb “and all the watchers of wrong will be cut off.”
- Isaiah 29:21 tn Heb “the ones who make a man a sinner with a word.” The Hiphil of חָטָא (khataʾ) here has a delocutive sense: “declare a man sinful/guilty.”
- Isaiah 29:21 sn Legal disputes were resolved at the city gate, where the town elders met. See Amos 5:10.
- Isaiah 29:21 tn Heb “and deprive by emptiness the innocent.”
- Isaiah 29:22 tn Heb “So this is what the Lord has said to the house of Jacob, the one who ransomed Abraham.” The relative pronoun must refer back to “the Lord.” It is uncertain to what event in Abraham’s experience this refers. Perhaps the name “Abraham” stands here by metonymy for his descendants through Jacob. If so, the Exodus is in view.
- Isaiah 29:22 tn Heb “and his face will no longer be pale.”
- Isaiah 29:23 tn Heb “for when he sees his children, the work of my hands in his midst.”
- Isaiah 29:23 tn Or “treat as holy” (also in the following line); NASB, NRSV “will sanctify.”
- Isaiah 29:23 sn Holy One of Jacob is similar to the phrase “Holy One of Israel” common throughout Isaiah; see the sn at Isa 1:4.
- Isaiah 29:23 tn Or “fear,” in the sense of “stand in awe of.”
- Isaiah 29:24 tn Heb “and the ones who stray in spirit will know understanding.”
- Isaiah 29:24 tn Heb “will learn instruction”; cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “will accept instruction.”
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